This invention relates to continuous business-form assemblies, and more particularly to continuous form envelope assemblies formed of superimposed plies and having insert material including at least one return envelope therein.
Representative prior art includes Steidinger U.S. Pat. No. 3,104,799; then Van Malderghem U.S. Pat. No. 3,554,438 and MacDougall, U.S. Pat. No. 3,652,007
Recent years have seen a substantial upsurge in the use of business forms of the type that can be placed in the mail with information placed thereon by computer-operated printers or manually-operated tabulators. This upsurge is principally due to the invention disclosed in the above-identified Steidinger patent wherein a totally sealed envelope having insert material already therein can have information inscribed on the envelope and can be placed in the mail without the usual need for stuffing. The elimination of stuffing operations also eliminates the need for correlating insert material with the envelope so that the proper envelope bearing the proper insert material is directed to the correct recipient.
Moreover, as disclosed by Steidinger, the insert material may include a return envelope so that all or part of the insert material may be returned to the sender of the original envelope in the enclosed return envelope.
Naturally, such advantages have strongly commended the use of structures made according to the teaching of Steidinger. A variety of structures have evolved which include return envelopes. Frequently, the return envelope is made using a pressure sensitive transfer adhesive as the flap sealing adhesive. This adhesive strip is protected by a removable backing which must be removed by the recipient prior to sealing the return envelope. In other instances, the ply forming the side of the return envelope other than that bearing the flap is provided with a removable chip which overlies the adhesive for ease of manufacture and which may provide a measure of protection for the adhesive. In this case, rather than removing a piece of tape to expose the adhesive, the chip must be removed so as to enable the flap to be moistened and folded over for sealing of the return envelope.
Heretofore, such means have generally been desirable principally in terms simplifying the manufacture of the form and, to a lesser extent, in precluding the adhesive on the flap of the return envelope from adhering, due to moisture conditions in the mail or in storage, to the interior of the original mailer, thereby precluding easy removability of the return mailer. However, the desirability of providing such means introduces an undesirability in terms of requiring the recipient to perform an otherwise unnecessary operation in terms of removing the chip or the adhesive-protecting tape. The undesirability is enhanced in the construction wherein a chip is employed in that, if directions are not strictly adhered to, the recipient may inadvertently remove the flap of the return envelope rather than the chip.